Summer Snippets
by purplemud
Summary: [Blue Skies: Lucas and Haley] They’ve had summers like these before. Him and Haley. Just the two of them. But even he knows that after this summer, nothing will ever be the same ever again. Laley Friendship  Naley
1. Chapter 1

Summer Snippets  
By: Grace (purplemud) 

Summary: A What Happened That Summer (before season 3) Fic. With some pre-OTH Laley friendship moments.  
Pairings: Laley friendship, Naley, Brucas and bit of Leyton  
Rating: 2  
Disclaimers: Standard disclaimers apply. Me don't own.  
Feedback: Yes, please would love it!  
Authors Note: Un-beta-ed. Currently seeking beta-reader, if anyone is interested that is.  
Spoilers: Seasons 1 and 2

Blue Skies: Lucas and Haley

Haley and Lucas walking together, sometimes hand in hand, sometimes playfully pushing each other away but always with a topic worth discussing about (like how come people thought Taylor was Jo, when clearly, she, Haley James, brown eyed, dirty-brown-red-haired tomboy, bookworm was Jo) had always been a familiar sight.

All summer long, for the past several years, people of Tree Hill are used to spotting them, usually at Karen's cafe or at Keith's auto shop. They've been a familiar fixture around this side of town - and by this side of town, it usually meant that it was nowhere near the places Dan Scott and his family would be out, milling and having fancy dinner about, a sulky raven-haired boy usually in tow, usually silent, usually scowling.

But never mind the other Scott boy who would barely look at them, what they remembered the most were the little duo of Karen and Keith and if they chose to, if they close their eyes and concentrate on the sound of Haley's giggles or Lucas' squinting intelligent blue eyes, they'd be able to see them in their minds as they had once been: Lucas Scott and Haley James, running around, always trying to out run each other, always with Lucas gaining, if he really took it seriously, as he sometimes would, a good two corners away from a not-at-all-impressed Haley.

People remembered them as most people would remember adorable smart-quick witted kids who always had a ready quip, a ready comment, surprisingly enough, about life's little quirks: a missing father, a younger half-brother, an older sister currently being chased by the boys and married men of Tree Hill. They always have some remarkable, sincere, almost cutting remark for them.

_"I'm the older brother."_

_"Yeah, by four days."_

_"Days? Are you sure Haley? Cause my mom said my dad waited for a bit longer than that."_

or

_"Your sister's real pretty, Haley."_

_"I know. People say that to me all the time._

_"I think you look a little like her, Hales."_

_"Oh, shut up Luke. Did I tell you, last night, I read all of her books in school and I think she never once opened them. It's too bad, cause stuck in between some of the pages, there were really nice love letters."_

_"You really shouldn't have read them, Hales. They aren't yours."_

_"But that'll be sad. If she doesn't read them, someone has too. Letters are meant to be read, not to get stuck forever and ever in between pages of the history of the Aztecs and Vikings."_

They'll remember those accidental summer afternoon conversations. This year, however, seeing Lucas and Haley, it took them all by surprise.

Everything is exactly the way they were, all these summer years, the lemonade on their front porch, the same blue, blue skies, the same sweltering heat, the same feeling of floating into the almost forgotten never-neverland, as though time which had stopped some twelve summer years ago had started back up again and they're at the same place they had always been and then they turn their heads and there they were: the little boy with piercing blue eyes, gone, vanished. He now stands towering over the still tiny brown-eyed girl who always seemed to be chatting up a storm and who was now as quiet and as still as the lazy yellow butterflies perched on on their screen doors.

When had they actually grown up was quite a mystery to them. Before they were little Peter Pan and Tiger Lily trick or treating in the street. Here, now there was the familiar white and blue jersey proudly hugging from Lucas Scott's body. And Haley James (Now Scott, but not the last name of the boy they all thought she would eventually marry - ah the surprises in life) walking silently, almost mournfully beside him.

Everything had changed. Except maybe for the fact that they still walked hand in hand, as inserperable as they had been when they were just little kids. It reminded them of old days gone, past and faded away, never to be had once more, even for old times sake.

To Lucas, though this _feels_ like the old days. After everything that had happened last year, this is almost like stepping back into time. Like having a sleepover stretch on for three whole months.

They've had summers like these before. Him and Haley. Just the two of them. But even he knows that after this summer, nothing will ever be the same ever again.

* * *

He was ten, and it was summer then, when he found out about Dan and Deb and Nathan. And when his mom couldn't explain the situation to him the way he wanted it to be explained, he rolled up his navy blue sleeping bag, dragged it across streets and lawns and one hour past his bed time, barged into the James' house where he was welcomed like their fourth long lost, youngest son.

They called Karen, of course, but the James' were cool – always had been – and they had managed to convince his mom to let him stay with Haley for the night.

Haley let him sleep in her bed. He lied down beside her the whole night, still wearing his shoes, still wearing the clothes from the afternoon when he and his mom had bumped into the Scotts, who were on their way to some fancy dinner. He could tell, just by the way they were dressed extra nicely. Words were exchanged and inevitably, the truth came out. Cat out of the bag. And like most truths, it didn't quietly slinked it's way out but rather pounced on him, claws digging deep.

He angrily stared at the ceiling, not seeing or saying anything at all; a hundred million thoughts criss-crossing, racing inside his head. Faster and faster they came at him, barreling through him: Didn't his father liked him enough? Did his parents hate each other then? Did that mean that his dad hated him too? It sure looked like it, the way he looked down on him. But why? Did he do something wrong? Was something wrong with him that his own father didn't want to have anything to do with him? Does Nathan – his younger half-brother (he has a half-brother?!) know about him? And if he did, what could the other boy be thinking about him? Was he also angry as he was? He didn't seem surprised, almost looked bored, actually. But then, would that mean that he had known all along? Was he, poor clueless little Luke, the only one that didn't know?

Well, at least that one question seem to have an obvious answer.

Frowning deeper, squinting his eye, Lucas crossed his arms across his chest, sniffed not too quietly. He had never felt so stupid. He should've figured it out: why he didn't have a dad. Why kids taunt him for not having a father. Why the moms always looked at him when they think that he wasn't looking (sometimes, even when they know that he was aware of their stares) they'd glance at him and he'd feel as though they were sorry for him or at the very least curious about him.

Well, now he knew and he felt like he was the dumbest boy alive. Especially if his younger step-brother (he has a half-brother?!) had known, had been told by his parents, the truth about... well, eveything!

He had seen Nathan before, had even gone to the same pre-school as he did. He didn't know anything about Nathan though and a part of him – a small part of him - was curious enough to wish that he did. All he knew for certain was that Nathan was a little bit taller than he was, had dark hair – like Dan (or Dad?) and he had blue eyes, like him. That and he was currently attending some snotty, posh private middle school way over the other side of the town, where the big, huge, huge houses were.

And even that too didn't sound fair to him.

His mom had told him not to be resentful, they were getting along fine, weren't they? Just the two of them. And sometimes with Keith and Haley. But then Keith wasn't his father and plus, he didn't like Keith very much. At least for tonight. He would bet all of his saving that his uncle Keith knew about Dan and Deb and Nathan, and yet he never even told him anything. No, of course, Uncle Keith didn't lie to him, but he certainly didn't tell him everything.

Did they all think that he wouldn't have been able to handle the truth? That he'd act like he was some immature kid who wouldn't understand?

Granted that he did ran away when he found out,but he wouldn't have had to run away in the first place if they had been honest with him from the start.

All night Lucas poured out his energy trying to contain and hold on to his anger. Betrayed by his whole family! It's a good thing he had the James and Haley. Maybe they'd like to adopt him. Except, he really didn't want to leave his mom all alone...but then his mom would have Keith and they could both live with their many lies – or at least, many withheld truths.

He'd ask the James is he could change his names to Lucas James.

Yeah, that sounded quite alright to him. The James' wouldn't mind. They'd be cool about it and he bet they always told the truth to their kids. He glanced at Haley and wondered what she must think of him now: abandoned by his very own father, probably resented by his younger half-brother. But she didn't seem any different to him. It was as though she didn't even care – and not in a bad way too.

Haley was just being Haley: sitting quietly beside him, a book – Charle's Dicken's David Copperfield – lying face down on her lap. She didn't ask him about anything at all and Lucas, if he wasn't so busy trying to stay angry, would've thank Haley for her comforting silence.

They stayed that way until, well Lucas wasn't sure how long, probably way past their bedtimes and all those endless hour, just sitting side by side, never saying anything until the morning when he thought she had fallen asleep only to be poked on the side of his cheek by her finger as she leaned down to tell him that a day of being angry should be enough. He still had his mom and Keith and her and so what if he had another brother and a father and a step-mom? It didn't have to change anything at all. He was still Lucas Scott wasn't he? Plus, on the bright side, he didn't have to suffer endless nights of babysitting annoying, stupid siblings who were supposed to be smater than her but no... look at Taylor for example: Taylor who always had her head up in the clouds, always climbing out of the window at the middle of the night, always coming home smelling like burned paper and grass. Or, if her sisters weren't being stupid, they were busy trying to bully her. Lucas should be thankful, he didn't have to live with this Nathan kid.

And if snotty, little Nathan had a father, didn't he have Keith and her and even Jimmy and Lydia and her brothers Mike and Dylan and Aaron too? And even Taylor and Quinn and Viv, if he wanted them as well, although, Haley was of the opinion that big brothers were way better than big sisters.

"You shouldn't be so mad anymore, Luke, there's always a reason for everything, right?"

He didn't respond to that. What could be the reason for not having a dad then? Certainly not a good one.

She nudged him until he reluctantly met her eyes. "And besides, look at David Copperfield," she gestured over the the closed book, the cover of a small boy staring up at them, as though keenly interested in the conversation that they were having, "he had a miserable, rotten childhood, much, much worst than yours – his dad and mom died when he was just a kid and only had grown ups for friends but he turned out okay and he became a real famous writer. It's not that bad, Luke, please don't be so angry anymore. And besides, you've got me."

Lucas went back home that day and told his mother that it didn't matter that his father had chosen some other family over them, he has the best family any boy could ever want.

That night had effectively cemented his and Haley's friendship. That was the day they stopped being just playmates and neighbors. That was when they had become the best of friends.

* * *

Sleepovers had become a tradition to them, even when they started to hit puberty. There were some snags along the way, like when they were twelve and Haley had vehemently refused to go to Atlanta for the weekend to see her grandparents and several older cousins who always sort of picked on her or worst, ignored her.

Well, Haley James wasn't going to be led out of the house quietly. Oh, no, not her. She wasn't the kind of girl who'd subject herself to that kind of misery when she had other options. So she stood her ground and said no to her parents. She was staying with Karen's and Lucas' and as soon as they come home, they can pick her up there or at the cafe or at Keith's shop, thank you very much.

It was her first ever sucessful attempt at semi-independence.

And Haley, being Haley, made Lucas sleep on the floor. She had thought and eloquently expressed that it wouldn't be very gentlemanly of him if he didn't give up his bed since she was, first and foremost a guest of their humble house and second, she was a _girl_ and they were both twelve going on thirteen and most importantly she was his bestfriend so that's why he shoudn't have to ask "Why" and "What that's supposed to mean?" anymore and just gallantly let her sleep on his bed.

She might have actually started babbling that very night.

"Be chivalrous, Luke!" She said exasperated with him and his many questions. (And to Haley's credit, she learned the word chivalry long before Peyton and Brooke realized that it had gone, died, briefly revived, but ulitmately became out of fashion.)

The fact that she knew what that word meant even before he did had initially bugged Lucas to no end. It's a known fact that it had always been him who read voraciously, dilligently, even listing down the big words that he didn't understand and looking them up in the dictionary with his mother. They had a huge debate over why he should have to be chivalrous for her, with Haley doing more of her newfound talent in rambling like crazy, but in the end, all thanks to Haley and her incessant babbling, the word, the very idea of chivalry captured Lucas' imagination and tugged at his own growing sense of righteousness.

It also, not that he'd ever admit it, appealed to his inherent need to be good, to be the better son.

Sometimes, when he could afford to think about it, he would compare himself to Nathan, the other son his father had chosen. Although it was, as he had known all along, not at all healthy, he couldn't help it. If Nathan Scott was going to be the star basketball child, then he was going to be Lucas Scott, the Chivalrous.

He liked the idea of it so much that ever since then, he had been determined – if not slightly, misguidedly tried – to be every girls' knight in shining armor. And so that one summer weekend, even though he had just gotten his new grown up bed, he had gallantly rolled out the same battered blue sleeping bag at the foot of his bed: hard creaky wooden floors be dammned.

* * *

This summer, he gallantly offered his bed once again, however, Haley insisted that she sleep in the vacant guestroom. She reasoned that it would be absolutely wrong to share one bed together, considering that she was married to his younger half-brother. That fact alone should be enough but add to that, as a wonderful bonus, was the inescapable truth that he had done _things_ on that very same bed with Brooke Davis that she would rather not even think about, let alone be laying upon.

Lucas reluctantly agrees, although, honestly, he thinks that the real reason why Haley doesn't want to sleep in his bed is because she thinks he won't be able to hear her when she's crying at night. She's wrong though, he hears her everytime. And during the first few weeks, when they would silently sip coffee by the front porch, they never talked about how red and swollen and blotchy her eyes were. They'd talk about what they'd do for the day and how much they missed Karen and Nathan and Brooke and Keith.

When Lucas finally got tired of trying to pretend that everything was normal, that she was fine, that they were both fine, he told her that he missed her the most, more than he missed his uncle and his mom and his brother and the girl he was so desparately in love with. He told her: "You're farther away from me than all of them combined. It's like you've never come home at all."

She comes knocking on his door that same night and tells him that home is where the heart is and right now, home is in Florida, probably angrily shooting baskets and touchdowns and whatever else it is that they do in basketball camp.

That night, she crawls into his bed, curls by his side and cries herself to sleep.

The morning after, they agree to do the laundry. After weeks of avoiding the mountain high pile of clothes that they had been mindlessly throwing at the wash bin, they start with the bedsheets and pillowcases that had tearstains on them: little faded, watery tracks that smell faintly like mint and lavender and jasmine.

Lucas tells Haley, over the whirring washing machine, that every thing would be fine.

She smiles a little, the first time since she's been home, and tells him: "Luke, you do know that you're supposed to separate the whites from the colored stuff, right?" She hands him a bright red sock.

It's _her_ pair of socks, of course.

Lucas blinks at her, peeks at the whirring, swirling, soap-sudded clothes and mutters a curse. Dammit. He's going to be wearing faded pink-white shirt all summer.

- tbc -


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

And so this summer, like the last summer and the last summer before that and the last summer as far back as they were nine, it was once again The Lucas and Haley James-Now-Scott Show.

When before it had been hinding at the James' attic looking at the old pictures of Haley's great-great grand parents, trying on the old musty clothes, pretending to be English royalties or hippies (depending on whose clothes they were wearing) with Haley doing all these accents and voices, another talent of hers, while he'd end up with a drawn mustache all across his face; or the six hour long movie marathons at TCM; or a whole day of trying to find the weirdest sounding album and the cheesiest song title ever at the local record store; or hanging out Keith's shop, pretend-driving with the old broken down cars, watching Keith change batteries, getting grease stains on their hairs, on their knees; or the occassional frolicking at the beach - usually when it's Taylor's turn to 'babysit' Haley; or looking to see who can read Moby Dick the fastest; or learning how to bike; or to play basketball; or playing pirates at the park and all the grand summer adventures they could think of, this summer had been particularly dull and boring.

Most days would start sometime during noon, when one of them would finally convince the other to get out of the bed and eat brunch or lunner (Haley's brilliant idea) which consisted mostly of mac and cheese and cereals, french toast and bagels. All these, by the way, enjoyed at the comforts of the Roe household, as they were both trying to avoid the Cafe: the once sacred place they used to run to which was now under the care of Deb. And although they were both fond of Deb (in certain ways, at least) she wasn't exactly high on their list of people they'd want to hang out with.

Left with little and sometimes no choice at all, Lucas would more often than not, drag Haley to the Rivercourt. He'd have a basketball with him and Haley would have her pen and notebook. He'd shoot basket after basket, watch as it archces up perfectly, gracefully across the court, orange-brown ball against the blue, blue skies, before silently swishing in, nothing but net.

"Whoa, Hales, did you see that?" shouts of exuberation floating across the sky reflected river.

Haley is oblivious to all these. All afternoon, she'd be sitting by the bleachers, writing letter after letter; poignant words wrestled from out of her heart or sometimes just inane ramblings. Her pen always moving in a frenzy as though trying to catch up with the words swirling and tumbling through her mind. Or perhaps keeping in time with her own crazy, irregular heartbeats. Sometimes, he'd catch her watching the horizon, blue ink smeared on her wrist and palms and cheeks. Sometimes, she'd be crying and she wouldn't even be aware of it.

"If he doesn't write back," Lucas jumps, flexes and flicks his wrist, the snapping of muscles and ligaments and nerves is perfect, right on time. Fade away. It's a deliberate move, well practiced. It looks effortless but it took him years of honing the natural basketball instinct embedded into his system, into his genes, to send the ball flying through the air, curving at the right angle before: swish. Net.

He glances at Haley as he lets the ball roll to the end of the court, rubber partly, briefly kissing grass and concrete. "If he doesn't write back," he repeats, making sue that Haley's listening to him, "then he's an ass and maybe you should just stop sending him those letters."

Huge brown doe-eyes flashes angrily at him. "Even if he throws them all, I don't care Luke. I want him to know that I'm thinking about him. That I miss him."

This sends him wondering too, if Brooke Davis, girl of his dreams, was also thinking about him, was also missing him. Cause he sure as hell thinks about her a lot. And he most definitely misses her. Especially when everytime he finds himself pausing, almost hopefully, at the front of her red door, always expecting to find her inside, sitting at the edge of his bed, legs playfully crossed, swishing back and forth, waiting for him and grinning so invitingly her dimples would not only flash, but stay, deepening as she says his name.

Lucas sometimes thinks that this particular recurring day dream is possible, after all this was Brooke, middle name Surprise, Davis. But it's a swift kick to his chest as soon as he opens the door to find his bedroom still empty, all Brooke-stuff gone, disappeared, vanished without a trace, as though she had never been part of his life. Or to be more exact, does not want to be part of his life. At least not in the way he wants her to be.

"At least you didn't break a sacred vow." Haley tells him as she plops down on his bed, stretching her arm so she could catch a glimpse of her still-glowing golden wedding ring.

There's no actual wedding to remember, although he sometimes imagines being there for Haley and Nathan and he knows that he'll be thinking of the same thing that he is thinking right now: The young, happy, perfect, golden couple of Tree Hill.

But never would it had been followed by: And suddenly, miles and many sleepless nights separating them.

Things here change at a rate so fast, it makes Lucas dizzy trying to take them all in.

"Well," he starts, glancing at Haley and arching his eyebrows, as though daring her to top this: "you didn't look like an ass confessing your undying love with a taxi honking at the background." Lucas groans out loud, still beyond mortified at how that day went down. It went down, officially, as the worst day ever. The girl – not just any girl, but Brooke Davis – walking out of his room and perhaps even out of his life.

"Hm. Sounds romantic. But still, you didn't get kicked out of the bed in the middle of a real hot, real emotional, soul searing kiss." Haley sighs, her face a mixture of dreamy-forlorn state, hands cluthching at her heart. She's swooning and agonizing. All at the same time. Only Haley James Scott.

"First of all," Lucas sends her a mock-disgusted look, "have you been reading my mom's romance novels? If you are, stop it. I will not allow you to sink that low. The cookie dough, I can tolerate - "

"You eat most of them anyway, buddy." Haley grumbles, knowing fully well that it was her, in fact, who had been canoodling and cuddling with that stuff in front of the TV watching ungodly amounts of The O.C. re-runs. She finds the babble-guy pretty amusing. Why, Lucas wasn't really sure and isn't particularly interested to find out.

"And second of all," he continues, choosing not to dignify Haley's little white lie by responding to her accusation, "FYI, that happens to me everytime, Hales."

"Well," she pauses, frowns and then grimaces. "You didn't kiss Chris Keller."

He actually grins at this. "Ah, thank God for that." He tells her, flopping down beside her so he could also stare at the ceiling, wondering why this particular act - this staring at the ceiling thing - always seemed to allude to a search, a quest for answers in life, when in fact, it's just an easier way to contemplate. Surely, someone out there, instead of staring up the ceiling, stares down at the floor.

"How many people do you think are Ceiling Starers?" Lucas asks, after a moment of silence, crossing his arms over his chest and seriously actually contemplating this life-altering question. Still, to note, staring at the ceiling.

"What?" Haley asks, frown line creasing her forehead.

"Us, we're Ceiling Starers," he gestures over them and then points at the ceiling. "Anyone you know who actually lies on their stomach, contemplates about life and love and the great many mysteries of this vast universe while staring at the floor? I mean, is the ceiling always better? It has cracks on it, sure, but that does make it more profound than staring at carpet stains?"

Haley is silent for a few minutes, chuckles softly before turning to look at him, her eyes bright and almost laughing. Almost. "You are babbling. Rambling. Like crazy."

"Like you, actually." He answers in all sincerity. Earning him a quick flick in the head. But since he had always been supportive of her ramblings, Haley smiles and thoughtfully nods her head.

"You wanna find out now, see if we truly are Ceiling Starers or Carpet Starers?" She asks, smirking - something she got from Nathan - and raising her eyebrows at him.

"Floor actually," Lucas corrects her, pushing at her shoulder so she could roll over and lie on her stomach. "Let's see if this gets us somewhere." He tells her, as he adjusts his position and viola, they are now staring at the floor.

They are silent for a few minutes, eyes wandering over to the dirt-beige carpet of Lucas' bedroom, each taking note of the amount of dust that had accummulated at the bottom of Lucas' bookshelves.

Lucas has started to wonder if maybe eating too much cookie dough with Haley does have some adverse effect on the brain but before he could announce that, yeah, he was definitely more of a Ceiling Starer: "Luke?"

Haley's voice is small, smaller than he'd ever heard and he finally feels The Big Talk coming. Ah well then, between him and Haley, it's confirmed, Haley is defintely not a Ceiling Starer.

"Yeah?" He asks back, glancing briefly at her, her face so familiar to him it 's actually difficult to see her looking so lost when all these time, all the years that they have been friends, he had never seen her this sad and lonely and miserable.

"Was it a mistake? Us crossing over to their world?" She squinches up her nose in the totally Haley like way of hers, cute, although nothing really compared to how cute Brooke looks when she's being reflective.

He squints a little. "Actually, weren't they the one who had so eagerly crossed over to us?"

Haley rolls her eyes but nods her head after a while. "Well, yeah, but still, I mean, like, have you ever wondered what might have happened if..." She sneaks a quick glance at him and Lucas can tell that this was something that she had been thinking about lately, that she had been stewing inside that head of hers.

Took Haley long enough to say it out loud. Actually, to be fair, he had been thinking about it as well, had avoided acknowledging the lingering, sniggering 'What If?' question. It's time that they lay it all out in the open, Lucas thinks, get it over and done with. He's sick and tired of trying to avoid the subject and the reason why they were both together inside his room, spending their summer like they were back to being sophomores, dreading the coming junior year. It sure as hell was nothing they had expeted or predicted.

"If... if we never let ourselves fall in love."

The words are spoken barely above whispher and Lucas winces. Regret is the last thing that Haley should be feeling right now. Regret often leads to loss of hope and if there's one thing that he got from and loved about Haley – aside from her kindness and ramblings – it's her eternal hopefulness. The past months had been hard on all of them but nothing like what Nathan and Haley had gone... is still going through.

"Would we have been able to stop ourselves?" Lucas asks back.

The Volley of Questions. Ah. Typical Evading-the-Topic-at-Hand move. Classic. Totally. But he doesn't have any of the answers, even though Lucas wishes desperately that he does. He thinks about these things too, wonders about them often enough and he know that he might, in the long run, end up losing both Peyton and Brooke and he thinks that he's never going to be the same if that ever happened. He has a feeling though that Haley and Nathan loosing each other was something that neither could ever recover from. Actually, all of them won't be able to recover from that. It's like having full, living proof that sometimes, love just isn't enough. And that's probably the saddest thing. Ever.

"Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know." She flips her hands helplessly across the air, words suddenly pretty much useless. This is something that they never really had a problem with. Words had always been easy for them but this time, it seems as though there aren't enough words to describe how being lonely feels like. How to describe how it's like being the ones left behind.

Lucas wonders: Which is harder? To run away or to come back home after running away? He thinks that he might know the answer to that but leaving Tree Hill for one day doesn't really count as running away. And going back had been easy for him. He had never really lost anything in that one day. He actually gained a lot: the then relucatant friendship of Brooke and Peyton. Keith. Maybe even some semblance of relationship with Dan - no matter how brief that had been. And Haley and Nathan as permanent, official, legally bound part of his family.

"It's not a crime, Hales, following your heart. It's just sometimes, maybe we think we're following our hearts when we really... aren't."

"What do you mean?" Haley shifts her weight, turns to her side and faces him. She raises her eyebrow at him, the same expectant look she used to have whenever he tries to explain something that he had read about or like when, years ago, he was trying to tell her why sometimes he feels like this is where he truly belongs, even though every part of him had always wanted to move away, escape the many histories of Tree Hill. He didn't really want to escape them, he just wanted to be able to accept them.

Haley, on the other hand, had always been all about leaving Tree Hill behind. She loved this place, yes, but to her, there's a whole world waiting to be discovered: that's what she's been preaching all these years. A change in environment, a change in everything. She had been planning her college life since she was thriteen, that one fateful summer they didn't spend together, when she discovered Stanford. Sometimes, Lucas thinks it wasn't really about the school, it was all about Haley getting away, getting the chance to follow her dreams. Who knew that she'll be the one who's going to be tied up to this place, running away from her old, childhood dreams. She'll always come back here as long as Nathan is here, that was for certain.

"Luke?"

Shaking his head and concentrating on Haley's question, he takes a deep breath before finally answering. "I mean, like with me and Peyton, I've always wanted her, you know." Lucas is quick to admit this now. Before, he'd always denied it, maybe because he had always seen Peyton as someone who had belonged to Nathan and thus, the initial appeal, but no... not really. He saw parts of himself in her and he felt the connection – it just wasn't the same, wasn't as strong, when he had been watching her from afar. They were both wounded, lonely, yes, but so was Brooke too and in Brooke he saw someone who acknowledged the loneliness and fought hard - tooth and nail - to outrun it, defy it. Not like Peyton who seemed to embrace it and even hold it dear, almost like it was her only life line.

"In the almost creepy, stalkerish kind of way, yeah." Haley says, her lips curling upwards, probably remembering all those time when she'd catch him standing by the shadows, agonizing over how much Nathan had and how little he had been given in life. Back then, he really didn't know what was really important.

"But, Luke didn't you love her too?"

And yes he did. And maybe, no, not really, he didn't. It was easier to run to her, especially since she had been the girl that he had wanted for so long. What he and Peyton shared was intense. Gut wrenching but it was also... tiring in a way. It was as though they had to constantly defend why they were together. Not just to other people but to themselves. Like because for him, he had liked her for as long as he could remember and finally having her should be something that he's supposed to be happy about, something that he was willing to fight for. And because for her, he was everything that Nathan wasn't. He was her stability. She was his storm.

"I did. I mean, I thought I did but then ... what I felt... what I feel for Brooke is different... and it's just... different. You know."

And again, the utter worthlessness of words.

"Oh, Luke," Haley murmurs, looking up to him, brown eyes filled with concern. "You've got to make up your mind. Is it Peyton or is it Brooke? You can't keep doing this... this love triangle kiss of death friends-lover-lover-friends dance macabre nightmare."

"What?" He frowns at this, squints his eyes. There's certainly no struggle for words there.

"Oh, you know what I mean." Haley flops back unto her back, blows a strand of hair off her face and promptly starts to stare at the ceiling.

Okay, so maybe Haley can swing both ways: Ceiling and Floor Starer.

They're silent for a moment, Lucas still counting the cow webs on the corners of his door and closet, trying his best to understand what he feels for Brooke, but really, it's simple, it comes so easy to him: "I know that it's Brooke that I want." He cuts his eyes over at Haley, meeting her piercing stare. "I couldn't stand the thought that she'd be gone the whole summer and she wouldn't even know that I love her. That I'm in love with her."

Haley nods, accepts his answer. Believes in it. And Lucas knows that whatever happens this year, Haley would always support, maybe even sometimes meddle - in the Haley Helpful kind of way - with his relationship with Brooke. "She's lucky. Brooke is. You're a great guy Luke even though sometimes - a lot of times, you're a little confused with what or who you really want, but I believe you and I'll help you get Brooke back, if that's what you want."

"It's what I want." He answers quickly, with the kind of certainty he had never felt before.

"But Peyton? What about her Luke? You spent so many years pining for her. You can't just be friends. You can never be just friends with her."

Lucas lets out a frustrated sigh. Obviously, Haley wasn't his best friend for nothing. She just had to torment him with this. "We can try. This is me, Lucas Scott, I'm friends with everyone." He counters, defiantly deflecting Haley's burning question. She's right though. He'll never escape the love triangle he had created. Never come between friends. Golden Rule. He had broken it and now it will always haunt him. It would always follow them forever, no matter what, no matter how many years have passed by.

"Ugh-huh." Haley says, sounding and looking unconvinced. "I seem to recall some unfriendly feelings towards a cerain Felix-What's-His-Face."

"Yeah, cause Felix and Nathan were such good buddies." Lucas notes sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "I believe everyone hated the guy's guts even Mouth. It wasn't just me, Hales." He sends her a semi-glare. "Besides, things change. I mean, look at you, ever since I met you, you've wanted to be singer only to realize that now, it's Nathan that you really want, that really matters to you. The only thing that matters to you."

"True." She mumbles, sounding lost and miserable again. "I guess I had to make that mistake to realize it. Although I wish I hadn't had to. I should've known from the start. From the day that we got married."

Lucas winces. Having been a recent pro when it comes to hook-ups and the inevitable break-ups, he knows what Haley's going through. He wish there's something he could do to lessen the pain She's never had a break up before, her first and only serious relationship had been with Nathan and in his opinion, they had rushed into the whole marriage thing. He'd never be able to truly say this out loud, but when he told Nathan to take care of Haley, he hadn't meant for Nathan to actually marry Haley. He was happy for them, because they were happy with being in love, with being married but sometimes, he wished that they had waited. It would've been the smart thing to do. No one was even against their relationship in the first place. Where was the rush? And, look, see, as soon as they got married, everyone was just waiting - anticipating - for their marriage to fail.

"Although," Haley adds, as though as an after thought, "Definitely not the only thing."

"But the thing that matters the most." He amends, his turn to shift to his side and look down at Haley.

She squirms a little. "Person, that matters the most." She corrects him.

Lucas is too amused to realize that sometimes Haley's just too grammatically correct. "I come in close at second, right?" He asks her playfully, eager to veer away from this particularly heavy subject. All his life, he and Haley had gone over things way too seriously. With Brooke, it was never this... well, serious. She was all about fun, something that he needed in his life: a breath of fresh air. That was what Brooke Davis always bring to him. Something new and fun. A sense of freedom. To not get too caught up in all the drama surrounding them, cause God knows, he had already lived through his fair share of dysfunctional family melodrama, what with the whole Dan-Deb-Nathan debacle of his early years.

"Only if I come in close at second, next to Brooke and-slash-or Peyton, or you know, whoever it is that you're really in love with."

Haley's always good at this, Lucas has to admit that. "Actually, right now, Hales, I'm thinking you're somewhere between Deb and Mrs. Melvin, my last babysitter." But he's better.

"Lucas!" She swats him across the back of his head, hard enough for it to actually hurt a little.

Note to self, Lucas thinks, wincing as he gingerly touches his head, Floor Staring not a good idea with Haley.

"Do you regret it?" Lucas suddenly asks her, catching her off guard, not giving her enough time to think but to just listen to her heart instead.

Haley answers not a hearbeat later. "No. Never."

He smiles at her as soon as he hears this. "That's your answer then."

Haley looks up at him all serious now, her brown eyes brimming with unshed tears, although this time, they weren't really sad tears. "And you, Lucas, buddy of mine, you'll have your answer soon enough. I'll make sure of that."

Her heart has always been that best part about Haley and that is why he's going to have to try and fix her marriage. For her. And for Nathan as well. If this was the sort of love that wasn't burdened by so many questions and doubts, like the kind of love that he has for Peyton and Brooke, well then, this kind of love is the kind of love that is worth saving, worth fighting for.

And hopefully, worth getting his ass kicked, if it comes to that, which knowing Nathan would come to that, eventually.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summer Snippets**

By: Grace (purplemud)

Summary: A What Happened That Summer (before season 3) Fic. With some pre-OTH Laley friendship moments.

Pairings: Laley friendship, Naley, Brucas and bit of Leyton

Rating: 4 for some cursing / K+

Disclaimers: Standard disclaimers apply. Me don't own.

Feedback: Yes, please would love it! Authors Note: Thank you for the wonderful reviews. The last part is a little... rushed, I think. I went and hit a blank wall and this was all that I could come up with. LOL. I hope it does not disappoint.

_Blue Skies: Lucas and Haley_

Part 3

_**Interlude**_

People have some really strange connotation. Or maybe it's been too long, their memories play tricks on them. Either way, stories here in Tree Hill float around, different versions, different shades of truth. All depending on who you're asking and who's telling it.

Like for example, and he's heard all these personally, Lucas Scott and Haley James had literally been friends since they were inside their mother's respective wombs.

It's a nice and adorable image: His mom and Haley's mom, sitting by the front porch, potruding bellies side by side, grazing each other. Little Lucas kicks and Little Haley answers with a kick of her own. The mothers wince a little, pat their little unborn babies, stare at each other, laugh, toast their lemonades and decide that they're kids are going to be best friends forever and ever.

But here's the fact: While his mother was alone, scared and pregnant with him in Tree Hill, agonizing over being a single mother, just out of high school with only Keith by her side, Haley's mom was in Atlanta, planning her family's great, grand escape away from her overbearing if not slightly controlling mother in law - her youngest daughter is not going to be attending silly cottillions, private schools and social gatherings of the old rich and the James' - that at least she was certain of.

Of course, him and Haley, could have very well bonded over those situations if they had not been miles apart from each other.

Here, this too, another favorite of his: Lucas Scott and Haley James were destined to marry each other. Someday.

Folks around here had endlessly speculated and even started a betting pool on when they'd finally get it together. They ended up getting disappointed when Haley married the wrong brother. Where the pot money went, Lucas isn't sure. Although last he heard, the pot money is still up for grabs as Taylor had bravely bet that Lucas and Haley will eventually hook up a few years after marrying different persons. Taylor is looking forward to this happening.

Lucas isn't sure why Taylor thinks the way she does, but he is certain of two things: (1) Taylor is never going to get the pot money and (2) if Nathan ever finds out about this, he is not going to find it funny and/or amusing. At all.

So, ok, here is the truth and Lucas will only say this once and never again. He did thought of Haley that way. They were in middle school, maybe 10th grade, he isn't sure when exactly, but he remembers begging his mom to let him have a pet.

Everyday, he and Haley would stop by the pet shop and gaze lovingly at the dogs displayed on the windows. The fact that, over the course of this daily, almost obsessive late afternoon passing by the Pet-Shop Thing, Haley ended up falling in love with the same puppy - a black lab - that he adored. It was the one puppy no one seemed to want. It was always there, at the pet shop and they were both convinced that it was meant for him. On the day they both thought that Karen was finally going to let him have a pet, they walked up to the familar window to find the puppy gone. That Haley was as heartbroken as he was... well Lucas had thought it was a perfectly good reason to marry someone.

But other than that one moment, it never crossed his mind again. Ever. Sure, the occassional: _"She's looking different today..."_ thoughts had nudged him but not strong enough to ever be followed by: _"I think I might want to kiss her."_

Euw.

Well, not _euw_ exactly. But with him and Haley it had always been strictly platonic. Totally brotherly and sisterly. To want her in that way was just wrong. So wrong it may cause his whole universe to topple over, be turned upside down, inside out. No thanks. Finding out that he had a half-brother was already world toppling down. There's just no need to have an extra 360-degrees roll over to utter craziness.

Lucas had always considered Haley as his baby sister. She hates this by the way, even though Lucas thinks she might secretly like it, because she will always be the youngest James, the baby of the family and she never really get to be that - ironically, since as soon as she hit ten, she insisted on not being treated as such, something that her parents and her sibblings were more than happy and willing to oblige. Anyway, regardless, Haley is constantly reminding him she's younger by just a few months and she has by all means acted and thought more maturely than he ever did. Yes, yes, yes to all those but Lucas could not help but be compulsively if not altogether possessively, fiercely protective of her.

It could be because apparently, at least from the Rivercourt guys' story, he and Haley had become friends when he had defended from some nameless bully stomping on her sand castles on her sandbox.

It's part of the How Lucas Scott and Haley James Met and Become Friends Mythology. Lucas knows there are other stories floating around out there. Like how Haley had stumbled upon him at the Rivercourt, new to town, lost and scared and how they had walked hand in hand on the way to her house. Or the one - this one from his Uncle who has the worst memory ever - wherein Haley and Jimmy James had gone over to the auto shop and Haley and Lucas ended up talking and from then on became inseparable. His Uncle also lacked imagination. That at least Lucas was certain of.

No one had bothered asking him or Haley. If they had, they would've gotten the story right. And since, Lucas is in the mood right now, what with the summer suddenly bringing all these nostalgic air around, have a seat and listen to this, cause this is how it happened:

It's summer. And it's his seventh birthday. And birthdays were always the same for Lucas Scott. Every year, the cafe closes by lunch time, slowly fills up with people coming and going to greet him, drop a gift and finally, affectionately rumple his hair - something he had to endure and be a sport about, until forever, he guesses.

He likes it that his mom throws a party for him, even though he knows how busy she is and how much money they would've made if they kept the cafe open but his mom always insisted and because she was The Mom, she always win out in the end. Sometimes, not that he feels bad about it or anything, but sometimes he thinks the party is more for her than for him. He thinks this because he only has few friends and they're all invited, every year of course, but the more popular the cafe grew, the more strangers (adults) seem to come in and greet him a 'happy, happy birthday Luke!' even though he was never really sure who they were supposed to be.

Either way, the people of Tree Hill loved his mom and they were all therefore keen - if not a little obliged - to be extra nice to him: Karen's little blue-eyed wonder boy. He listens quietly as they all compliment his mom on how he's always on about a new book he had picked up from the bookstore or how he always devotedly walk by his mother's side or the way he sincerely, intently listens to his Uncle Keith ramble on about oil changes or when and how to pick the perfect car batteries.

Sometimes, if neither Keith nor his mom was around, they'd ask him if he was hanging out at the Rivercourt with Skills and Fegie and wasn't basketball such a neat support? Especially for a boy like him?

He likes basketball but he also likes reading and reading right now is his thing.

"Ah, well, you'll change your mind, son. A boy like you, you'll get bored with books soon."

Lucas isn't particularly interested in discussing his hobbies with the grown ups, so he politely excuses himself, wandering aimlessly around the cafe. He sees his friends over the counter, starts to head towards them but then decides against it. Right now, all the boys, mainly Skills, Mouth, Little Jimmy, Fergie, Junk and even his Uncle Keith were sitting patiently infront of the table, eyes-glazed over as they lovingly, expectantly stared at the extra-huge, extra-layered, extra-chocolate chocolate cake that his mom had made.

"Luke, let's have a go with this cake!" Keith calls to him as soon as he notices him lurking by the sides.

Lucas lets out smile, shakes his head and propmptly turns away. He isn't really a fan of chocolate cakes, something his mom had known all along and she had insisted the night before that she could make him something different, perhaps the strawberry cheesecake that he liked so much but he had told her that it was fine, he didn't want to disappoint his uncle and his friends and the rest of the Tree Hill residents that will come flocking the cafe for that chocolate cake.

He spots his mom who is now caught up in a conversation at the middle of the room. He decides to go over there and entertain himself.

Because he's forever surrounded by grown ups at the cafe and at the auto shop, he had somehow developed the uncanny ability of actually listening. Like, grown up listening. He remembers everything that had been and had not been said during a conversation. He was and had always been a curious child and he liked hanging out with the older folks. Sure he liked playing with Skills and Mouth, but they weren't always there, they had stuff to do at home and since most of his time was spent at the cafe or the shop, it was inevitable that he'd end up knowing almost half of it's regular customers.

He knows that the husbands goes to his uncle Keith when they need to discuss important stuff, passing along between them all a tiny silver flask that never seems to go empty. He knows that the wives of those husbands visit the cafe for Karen's recepies - which she sometimes gives, depending on how much tears were involved about a fight or an impending separation or divorce. All these big words, Lucas knows and understands, having asked his mom about them one night. He finds all adult coversations, inside and outside the cafe or shop, severely interesting, even though sometimes the names his uncle and his mom would rattle off didn't interest him that much: Coach Whitey who seems, at least from what he's heard so far, is always angry and shouting at people. And then there's 'poor Mrs. Smith and Timmy - what with the divorce going on'. And the Davis', 'did you hear? They're buying the old big house over at The Hills', 'How's Dan and Deb and Nate?'

He saunters over to his mom who smiles down at him, putting an arm around his shoulder. Almost instantly, everyone's attention turns to him:

"Hey Luke, seven huh, you're a little man now."

"Luke, I can still remember when you were a kid and your mom had to put you in a crib right here inside the cafe! And look at you now!"

"You're gonna grow up tall, play ball?"

"He's a smart kid, Karen. Smart and athletic. Best of both words, eh?"

He's finally about to say something about how he has been hearing basketball and growing tall and playing basketball and all these stuff, because it seems like it's what everyone has been telling him lately when he notices her.

Small, brown haired girl silently sitting by an empty table, head titled towards the piano, watching it as though it was about to grow wings and suddenly fly away. Her ice cream on cone is forgotten and it's slowly melting, dripping unto the floor. He's never seen her before: either with any of the moms at the cafe, or with any of the dads in the auto shop.

He excuses himself politely from the conversation, grabs an empty paper cup and a handful of paper towels on the way and purposely head over to the girl.

"Here," he says, placing the paper cup on the table, directly underneath her nose.

She looks up at him then and the first thing he notices is her huge brown eyes, long, dark lashes framing them. Like Bambi, Lucas thinks. And then again, the realization that he has never, not once, even when he and his mom and his uncle Keith went out, had ever seen her before. Tree Hill is a small place. He couldn't have missed her. There were only few kids their age around here.

She silently raises her eyebrow at him, peers at the cup and twists the corner of her mouth, as though in a smile-frown. "It's empty." She informs him.

"It's for your ice cream." He gestures over to her left hand and then at the small puddle of melted cookies and cream on the floor.

"Oh, sorry." She's quick to apologize as she followed his gaze. He watches keenly as her other free hand opened up, wordlessly asking for the table napkin while placing the ice cream cone inside the paper cup all at the same time. "I didn't mean to be messy. Honestly. Normally, I'm a lot cleaner, more careful with this kind of stuff. I just wasn't paying attention. You have a piano. I got distracted." She mumbles all these in one breath, plopping off from the chair and kneeling down to wipe the floor. "I've always wanted to have one. A piano that is." She sneaks a quick glance at him and not knowing what else to say, Lucas quietly nods his head as though in complete agreement with her. "Do you play?"

He shakes his head no. He didn't know girls could talk up a storm. Most of the girls his age didn't really paid him any attention. They rarely talked to him at all.

"I'm learning how to play. My dad teaches me." She tells him with a shrug and without looking up at him, she extends her right arm and Lucas understanding the gesture, hands her more table napkins. She's making sure that there were no more stains on the floor and Lucas lets her do this. It's her fault, so she gets to clean it. The same rules applies to their home, anyway.

"Do you want to?" He asks gesturing over to the piano.

"Oh, no. My fingers are all yuck." She says, wiping said fingers before balling up the tissue in her hand.

He motions for her to give it to him which she silently hands over to him. He spots a trash can near the piano, raises his arm and flexes his wrist. They both watch as the ball of table napkin flies almost halfway across the room before silently disappearing into the trash can.

"Damn kid's gonna be a Raven, I'm telling you."

The comment comes from his uncle's side and there's that hushed silence around him that makes his stomach feel queasy even though he isn't exactly sure why.

"Like the bird?" The girl beside him suddenly asks out loud. Her voice isn't small, doesn't really match her size. It makes her sound almost older. And Lucas rethinks her age. She's probably just about to turn eight or nine. Which would maybe explain why she's almost taller than he is. Almost.

Lucas is more than sure that she's not from around Tree Hill. There's a couple of chuckles around the room which seem to ease the silence back into normal buzzing conversations.

"I don't get it." The girl mutters, sounding confused and little bit angry.

He'd be angry too, Lucas thinks, if everyone is laughing and no one is telling him why. "What's your name?" He asks, turning his attention back to her.

"Haley. Haley James."

He remembers it now: New family from Atlanta. Moved in here not a month ago. Huge family. Lots of kids. He watches as she frowns and then shakes her head, "Why are you going to become a Raven again?"

"Not the bird. But the team." He explains, smiling at the confused raised eyebrows.

"What team?" Haley asks, sounding genuinely perplexed.

Lucas smiles to himself. Ah, finally. Someone isn't obsessed with both basketball and the Raven. "The basketball team over at Tree Hill High." He tells her, "Blue, white black." He expounds and a light of recognition flickers through her huge brown eyes as she finally nods her head in understanding.

"Oh. Yeah. My sisters and brothers go there." She informs him as she sits back down, glancing disintertedly at her half melted ice cream.

It could have very well been the been the end of their conversation, there was nothing more to add to that, but Lucas is drawn to her. He has never had any friends who were girls and she didn't seem to mind talking to him. He sits across from her and tilts his head. Sisters and brothers. Well, that's something he has never really talked about before. Not to anyone at least. "Who are your sisters and brothers?" He asks genuinely interested now.

Haley hesistates for a brief second before ticking off names: "Dylan and Aaron and Quinn and Viv and Taylor. My brother Mike's in college, so he doesn't go to Tree Hill High anymore."

Lucas had never known anyone who had that many sibblings. How can it be possible for her mom to have so many kids? Skills had a younger brother; Mouth, an older sister that Lucas barely sees. Jimmy's an only child and so is Junk. And mostly, everyone he knows has just one kid. There's a shortage of kids here in Tree Hill that no one seems to find strange or disturbing or maybe even sad. And here comes the James' all seven of them. He might have ogled at her for a while because she finally asked if it was ok that she was here.

"Taylor said that I could wait here, I told here there's a party going on and there's a closed sign on the door, but she insisted and she said that it's ok. It's not like I have a choice since I don't know how to get back home. I need to wait for her to come pick me up."

That certainly didn't sound like an older sister. "Where'd she go?"

Haley stares at him, blinks and bites her lips before making a face, a mix of curious-disappointment and maybe a smidgen of worry. "I don't know." She confesses, leaning forward and turning her head as though in deep concentration. "I'm guessing she's somewhere where she's not supposed to be. But she's Taylor and she's always like that. She didn't tell me where she went or when she'll be back." She scans the crowd before turning her attention back to him. "Should I leave? I'm not invited."

Lucas doesn't want her to leave. "It's ok. Everyone is welcome anyway."

"What's the party for?"

"It's my birthday."

"Oh." She crinkles her nose and then, "And what's your name?"

"Lucas. Lucas Scott."

"Well," She pauses for a brief second, as though trying to determined if he's lying. He doesn't do anything to make her believe him, doesn't point out or call his mom for the confirmation. Lucas just silently sits in front of her, meeting her huge, doe-eyed gaze. Finally, she smiles and nods her head, "Happy birthday Lucas." She greets him, sounding as though she means it and Lucas knows that she does. "I'm sorry I don't have any gift."

"What's your favorite book?" Lucas asks suddenly.

"The Secret Garden." She answers almost without hesitation. "I just read it. I don't know how long it will become my favorite though. It might change."

He's heard about it before but hasn't read it. "You let me borrow it, that'll be your gift."

She tilts her head a little, brown hair brushing against the table. "Okay. I'll think about it."

Lucas thinks it fair enough. After all, he wouldn't just let strangers borrow his own book, let alone his favorite book. "Thanks. And anyway, you could stay, I'm inviting you now."

She nods her head, "You should, since you're already talking to me."

She ended up staying up until she's the only guest left, with a rather worried Karen and Keith fussing over her. Her sister Taylor had forgotten to pick her up and they ended up calling Haley's house for her parents to come and get her, but not before Lucas had suggested: "Why don't we just keep her?"

It turned out that both her parents were out that night so it was her brother Mike who came for her. By the time Mike had knocked into the cafe's glass doors, he and Haley had already shared too many chocolate cakes - with Lucas eager to hear stories about Haley's brothers and sisters and with Haley enjoying the calm, peaceful silence of the cafe.

A friendship over spilled ice cream and a half-eaten birthday cake: it was a bound to last a lifetime.

The next morning, Haley was back again. She brought The Secret Garden with her. She also said she thought Lucas would want to know what Taylor's punishment was for leaving her at some stranger's birthday party. And she was right, Lucas did want to hear how Taylor is to take Haley at the cafe whenever Haley felt like visiting or playing with him and Taylor has to stay there until Haley wants to.

It was good for business, it turned out, since Taylor had a lot of friends who came over to the cafe. Taylor even worked there for the whole summer, although she just mostly took orders and chatted with the other waitresses. Lucas didn't care much about Taylor though. Haley had the most interesting stories to tell: He enjoyed knowing about Taylor and her other crazy antics and Viv and Quinn's silly boy troubles, Dylan's new car, Aaron's Friday night football games and Mike's weird biology-something classes ('He thinks he wants to be a doctor, although I think he just likes to disgust us all with all those talk about organs and kidney and stuff', Haley once told him.)

Even Haley's stories about her parents were funny. Mrs. James seemed like the least perfet mother, often times loosing Haley whenever she takes her grocery shopping. Mrs. James also lets Haley eat cereals at midnight and because he didn't really have a dad, everything that Jimmy did was cool and awesome and totally Dad-like. But most of all, what he loved the best was listening to Haley tell them all, so animatedly and excitedly. He loved it so much, Haley had become an almost permanent fixture at the cafe and into his life.

And that's how they become friends. It's a simple as that. Granted it wasn't a display of heroics on his part or anything poetic or profund.

Sometimes, if Lucas is honest about it, he thinks that the main reason he befriended Haley was because she has something that he didn't have, that he wanted to experience, to be a part of. It is, admittedly, a little selfish on his part - but it's ok. Lucas thinks his friendship with Haley had bloomed into something deeper and it wasn't just a way of giving each other the things they most wanted - a whole family for Lucas: dad, mom, brothers and sisters - and as for Haley: the sole attention of a mother and his blue eyed son - in the end, they've become each other's family and it became enough for them.

He always thinks that it wasn't just mere coincidence that Haley James - the girl who wasn't at all interested in basketball and didn't know what a Raven was until his seventh birthday - had somehow became the bridge that connected the two worlds of Tree Hill.

Lucas isn't sorry that this particular truth doesn't live up to some of the expectations of the people that didn't really know them - but a lot of things never do live up to other people's expectations. That's because, Lucas thinks, everyone wants a different reality, something better. It's something that he's familiar with although he tries his best not to live that way.

That's another story altogether, something he might want to talk about in years to come, but for now, let's just go back to the story.

* * *

There are enevelopes and stamps everywhere. It's driving Lucas nuts. All those early morning trips to the post office and the repeated trespassing over to the abandoned apartment just to check if any mails had arrived for her and yet Haley never wavers. She writes a letter everyday. A lot of them never gets sent, since he'd discover a couple of crumpled papers in the trashcan, Haley's handwritting filling up it's every space, it's hard not to miss it.

It always starts with '_Dear Nathan_', he knows this for certain, he'd seen a number of letters thrown with just those words written on them. She signs it with '_Always and Forever, HJS_'. He doesn't need to see any proof of this, he knows Haley well enough to be confident about this itty, bitty trivia. What he doesn't know is what's inside those letters.

Sometimes, she'd cry before or after or during writing those letters.

"Hales, they way you're crying right now, all the ink would be running all over the page," He idly comments, glancing at her hunched over form, "Nathan would never be able to read your grand declaration of love."

"I'm writing about the sex dream I had last night," Haley mumbles, sniffing ungracefully and glaring at him, "leave me alone."

She says this to get rid of him, Lucas _knows_ (hopes) and it's just cruel.

Sex dreams. He shudders at this and promptly scampers away. Why Haley is crying over that was something he'd rather that he never, ever finds out. Some things were too mentally and emotionally damaging to even be thought of or wondered about.

Some mornings, when it's still dark outside and the heat of the summer is still bearable, he'd see her standing by the mailbox, opening and closing it, peering closely, looking disappointed and sorry and betrayed and angry and determined all at the same time.

When it became apparent that Nathan was not going to pick up a pen and write back anytime soon, Lucas tried to be reassuring and comforting. "Maybe they're not allowed to read mails, you know, they could be a bit of a distraction." He dumbly offers.

Haley looks at him like he's Tim or dim or both.

The other night though he caught her gripping the phone, pressing it against her ears, not saying anything, just listening, lower lips jutting out, jaws tightly clenched.

"He says not to call anymore." She says after hanging up, gripping the phone tightly with her hand, knuckles turning white, looking defeated and tired.

"He actually talked to you today?" Well, that's a surprise, Lucas thinks to himself, a little impressed. Nathan had been nothing but silent all summer. No drunken phone calls as Lucas had been expecting. No drunken, sudden appearances by the door too. Lucas is almost proud of Nathan, but then realizes that it was so not the point.

"No he says it in his voicemail: 'If this is Haley, stop calling.'"

Lucas grimaces. Well, that certainly sound like Nathan. "How sweet, that little half brother of mine." He quips, "I can see why you fell in love, married the guy and left him for three months."

When she threw the phone at him, Lucas thinks he deserves it. He's lucky that Haley can never really throw anything even if her life depended on it or he could end up in another Scott family trip to the hospital and that's just going to be too damn redundant.

He hears the door slamming and then the sound of water running in the bathroom.

Haley's crying.

He winces as he picks the phone from off the floor. Something has to be done about the sorry state of Nathan and Haley's relationship and not for the first time, Lucas wishes that Brooke was here with them, she certainly knows how to fix other people's relationship. He wondes briefly why it is always easier to try and fix other people but so damn hard and scary and crippling trying to fix your own problem.

He dials Brooke's number, memorized by heart, seared into his brain. Her smiling face shows up on the screen. He doesn't call her though.

He misses her.

He misses normal like never before.

* * *

All summer long, Haley waited for a letter and she never got one and this pissed the hell out of Lucas so one day he sat by his laptop and composedly composed an e-mail. He deleted it before he got tempted to actually send it, but this is how it went, more or less:

Dearest Asshat,

I sincerely hope that you have a broken wrist that somehow keeps you from answering any and/or all of Haley's letters.

Congratulations, you've just proven why you're there and why she's here.

I understand that you're doing this for yourself, that you need time, that you're actually still hurting but I think you're sorely missing the point: Haley, your wife, came back home. To you. For you. For your marriage.

What the hell is wrong you, I might never actually know, but what I do know is that you're reading her letters, every night until the stupid margins had faded away, you know, right on the exact same spot where you'd clutch them.

I know you Nate and I know that those letters mean something to you. In fact, I know that it means the whole world to you and it should but Haley deserves to know that too. That you're not just throwing all her letters away. She thinks you're collecting them just so you could send them all back to her unopened and God help you if you are planning on doing just that because I am going to come over there and make you read them one by one, out loud, in front of the rest of your basketball camp buddies.

Think about it, Nate. You know I can make you do it too. I have ways. You're not the only angry son of Dan Scott. In fact, check that, you're not even the angry, _abandoned_, prodigal son of Dan Scott.

Look, no one is asking you to come running home here and fix your marriage right away, even though I think that's exactly what you should do, what I am trying to say is, Haley misses you but she wants you to stay there for the summer because you deserve it and because she knows that in some ways, being there, even if it means being away from her, it makes you happy. She wants you to be happy. She's really proud of you, Nate.

And she loves you, man. I don't know why, but she does. And as her bestfriend and your brother, all I am asking is just one note. Just one note. Not even a decent letter. A simple twenty-something-word scribble. That's all she needs. Just let her know that you're still alive out there and that she still matters to you because even though what she did sucked, what you're doing right now is almost as bad. Of course, I think you already know that but as always, you're being your stubborn idiotic self, letting your pride get in the way of your own happiness.

To be honest, if it's just you, I'd let you be. Go on ahead and wallow on your misery since you seem to like it a lot but as I've told you before, if you ever intentionally hurt Haley, you're going to answer to me.

She's really worried about you and everyday she checks the mail box and every day it's empty. Think of what you're doing to her. She sits the whole day writing those damn letters, she puts her heart and soul into them (including lurid sex dreams. I bet you're enjoying that.)

If you could just, please, for the love of God, write back or even call her. It'll make things a little better between the two of you, I promise you that.

Don't you miss her at all? I know you do, so why don't you do us all a favor, pick up your phone, change your voicemail and then call your wife.

-Lucas

He sent him an edited version, one that lamented more on the fact that "Haley, you're wife, who you promise you would take care of, love and protect no matter what (that includes kissing another guy and going on a tour, unless somehow, we mortals missed that particular memo re: marriage vows) hasn't been eating much, hadn't been herself lately, had been crying herself to sleep almost every night and is actually, for your information, currently pretty much homeless."

He got a response the very next day telling him to "take Haley to my parents' house," (Yeah, right, cause Lucas would just leave Haley alone with Dan and Deb the whole summer) and to "mind his own damn fucking business."

To which his reply had been rather short and sweet: "Haley will stay with me until you've realized that you're making a big mistake. I'll take care of her and I'll protect her. Even from you, if necessary."

Nathan promptly, angrily calls to tell him that if he ever so much as think about trying to steal Haley away from him, he was as good as dead.

This of course sends Lucas into mind-numbing hysterical laughter. He ends the call by saying: "Nathan, you idiot, just talk to her."

* * *

He doesn't know when or how exactly Nathan went about to contacting Haley, but before the summer ended she was in better spirits than ever and had even started talking about finding a place for her own, now that Karen would be back (so would Nathan - although this one fact remains unspoken). She's suddenly hopeful again and this brings back a little bit of the old Haley that he knows.

He still misses her inane ramblings though.

He leaves a voicemail to Nathan thanking him for getting his head out of his ass and giving Haley the second chance that she deserves. That they both deserve. Nathan never answers back, but that's ok, that's just like Nathan anyway. Lucas is sure that everything will be ok between Nathan and Haley.

After all, if there was one thing that he'd trust his life with, one thing that he desperately wishes that he has too, it's what Nathan and Haley has: true love. And true love, no matter how rough it gets, it always wins out.

Always.

And forever.

_Ugh._

Lucas winces and shudders.

Oh, God, he probably _has_ to let Haley stay with Dan and Deb for a week, just to get all these fluffy, mushy feeling off his chest.

Thankfully, the summer is just about over. And oh, he couldn't wait to find out what's in store for them this year. It will be just their luck if it's anywhere near the sort of drama that they had all gone through the past couple of months. Maybe another marriage wouldn't hurt. Although, he certainly didn't think that he and Brooke were quite ready for that. Honestly, there's probably no one in Tree Hill ready for another marriage, except maybe Nathan and Haley, but then wouldn't just that be asking for perfection?

"Luke, let's go, we're going to be late picking up your mom. I don't want you driving like a maniac, especially considering what happened to you the last time you tried to pick Karen from the airport! It's not like we need another car accident this year, you know, even though, yes, it's been the highlight for the past two years, but let us not make it into an annual thing."

Ah, something like a ramble from Haley. A little short, though. But this was a good sign. Lucas slings his arm around her. "Hales, relax. This is going to be a better year. No more of the silly drama from the last two years."

"Tree Hill? Without drama?" Haley scoofs, rolls her eyes at him. "Yeah, you wish."

- end

Well, there it is. It's short and a bit (a lot?) OOC. Hope that you guys enjoyed reading it.


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